A new spiritual CD by local musician Randy Melick, that explores brokenness, redemption and forgiveness, is a compilation of several years worth of work. Melick said the music offers a positive message of God’s unfailing faithfulness and love.
“Whiter Than Snow God’s Word in Song,” was pulled together in eight months, but the music and words took decade to assemble. It was released May 5.
“I thought it would be like a legacy of sorts, I could leave it behind for my kids,” Melick said on Thursday. “I have written these specific songs over the last 10 years. I thought you know I need to get these recorded.”
Melick usually writes instrumental pieces, but others suggested he put words to the music. He did. What resulted is a heartfelt rendition of songs, each different from the other and each with its own message.
“If you listen to all of them, it’s almost like it presents the Gospel,” he added.
Melick said the CD presents a brokenness of the spirit.
“A lot of people are broken, the brokenness is huge,” he said. “Redemption, brokenness and just the fact that God loves us, nothing is impossible …”
He said the name of the album “Whiter Than Snow” came from Psalm 51, which highlights a broken King David asking God for forgiveness after he committed adultery and subsequently murder.
“When I was a kid I was brought up in a Lutheran church, and we had to memorize that,” Melick said. “The first part of that Psalm is a creed that we would repeat every Sunday. So, I remembered it and I thought ‘I’ll write a song about that.’”
Melick usually writes the words to his songs first and then composes the melodies.
“In a couple cases, in the song ‘Jonah’ I had the whole song recorded except for the vocals,” he noted. “I said ‘Lord what do I sing?’ Then I immediately felt I needed to read (the book of ) Jonah and I did, and the words and the story went with the music.”
Melick said the story struck him because Jonah was running away from God and it fit with the theme he was creating in the album.
During the course of creating the CD Merlick wanted to write a blues song. That desire lead him to write, “Not coming Back” which speaks of being alone and carrying a “heavy load.”
“It’s based off of the movie and book ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ by John Bunyan,” he said. “I had these chords together for along time and I didn’t know what to do with them, I just played them …”
Watching the movie during a Bible study inspired him to write the words for the music. Melick, who is a clinical mental health supervisor at Burrell Behavioral Health, said many times, especially in today’s society, people carry heavy loads psychologically. They want to rid themselves of the pain, but often others don’t take them serious when they reach out for help.
“I still struggle with things, I’m still broken in a lot of ways, but God has been faithful to me, and He’s been faithful to my family,” he noted.
Melick said the current CD is a “more serious album” addressing struggles, humility, redemption and forgiveness. Forgiveness that comes not only from God, but one’s self.
“(It’s) a little more focused on specific things,” he added.
The words to “Sometimes,” the second song on the album says “Sometimes there’s a mountain that’s too hard to climb, sometimes there’s a river just about to unwind ….” The song looks at struggles people face internally.
“That song there was a miracle, I had it for 10 years and never had words for it,” Melick said. “So, I made it an instrumental. One day I sat down and I started playing it. I said ‘Lord I really need some words to this.’ I thought it’s about life, So, I thought sometimes there’s a mountain and sometimes there’s a river … the comparisons of those two just came out for me real strong.”
He noted that “life” happens and it happens to everybody, and added the song is meant to bring comfort.
“I see people everyday who struggle on the street,” Melick said. “But not just that, they’ve lost their job, their family is torn apart … they are struggling day-by-day. This song, the words just really came together when I started to think about that.”
Melick said his message to others about the album is God is faithful.
“To me, God’s faithful all of the time, and His steadfast love is so evident,” he said. “I don’t know how anyone can be patient with me, but He was just so much that way when I did this album.”
Songs released from the CD have been playing on K-LOVE, a contemporary Christian radio station, and Melick said since releasing the album in early May, he has sold 50 copies. He has also given several local concerts featuring the music from the CD and is open to performing for churches and organization.
“Whiter Than Snow God’s Word in Song” by Randy Melick may be purchased for $10 at The Shepard’s Place, 305 S. Ohio Ave. in downtown Sedalia. Melick can be reached at 660-619-3038.
